STEAM opportunities ahead

Workshops, summer camps and the annual Extravaganza are coming up!

 

It’s time to mark your calendars and plan to make the most of all the STEAM opportunities coming up for students and teachers in the next several months.

The second annual STEAM Extravaganza is scheduled for May 19 at Umpqua Community College. The event will feature all things STEAM, also known as science, technology, engineering and math, with artful innovation. Last year’s event drew more than 200 people and featured high-flying drones, Wildlife Safari animals, science experiments and much more.

This year’s Extravaganza is expected to be an even bigger hit with the community, with fun family activities and information about local opportunities for kids that can lead to some great career possibilities. We will also have a Solar System Walk, to scale, designed by UCC Associate Professor Paul Morgan, a First Lego League Junior Expo and a Bridge Building contest. Promoting STEAM education and career paths is one of the goals of the event’s organizer, the Umpqua Valley STEAM Hub.

And don’t miss STEAM Extravaganza Part II at the Douglas County Fair from Aug. 7 to 11 for more opportunities to learn.

Admission to the STEAM Extravaganza at UCC is free. More details will be coming soon.

With a recent smattering of snow and freezing temperatures, students and teachers alike are probably starting to dream about warm summer days. With that in mind, it’s a good time to start thinking about summer STEAM opportunities as well.

Expanding Horizons Summer Camps are returning to Douglas County for a third year. The camps, emphasizing Career & Technical Education, focus on skills such as woodworking, welding, drafting, engineering, health care and much more. The idea is to pique students’ interest in exciting potential career paths.

This year’s free camps, open to middle school students, will be held in June and July. Details on camp subjects, dates and locations will come soon. Our website at http://www.dcpss.org/expandinghorizons/ will be the source of updated information.

Also presented by the Umpqua Valley STEAM Hub, this year’s STEAM Summer Institute will again offer a wide variety of learning opportunities for educators who want to jump-start their students’ interest in science, technology, engineering and math.

About 50 educators participated in last year’s first-ever Institute, taking advantage of the series of professional development workshops pointing the way to tools, resources and contacts to enhance STEAM education in Douglas County.

This year’s Institute will offer workshops from Aug. 13 to 17, mostly at UCC. Stay tuned for more details, including workshop topics, times and dates.  Registration will begin in May at www.dcpss.org.

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